Today I had the crap scared out of me at school- and it wasn’t because of the kids. I’m so freaked out that I’m not sure how I’ll sleep tonight. Let me explain…

I was rushing out of my classroom to get to my Zumba class. I threw my school bag, gym bag, purse, and lunch box around my shoulders and hurried out. I locked the door and spun around to find a woman looking at me funny in the hallway. She was older with long white hair. I hadn’t seen her around school before so I asked if she needed anything. She continued to stare at me and pointed to my classroom door.

Woman: Do you teach in that room?

Me: Yes.

Woman: Have you ever been in there when it’s dark?

Me: Ummmm (super confused) not usually. When the kids are in there we work with the lights on. I guess during rest time I turn the lights off.

Woman: Oh, okay.

She turned around and began to walk away. Intrigued and confused I had to stop her and continue the conversation.

Me: Why? What’s the problem?

Woman: Well, I’m a custodian in the school here and I’ve noticed some strange things in that classroom at night.

(This is where I began to raise my eyebrows. I knew the custodians in my building, pretty well actually. They’ve saved me when my students have peed, vomited, and even pooped on my carpet. That’s a whole other blog post though. Why had I never seen her before?)

Me: What do you mean strange things? (I laughed a little while saying this because another co-worker had joined the conversation and we exchanged glances that said, “This woman is crazy.”)

Woman: Well at night, when I come in to clean, I hear voices. More than once I’ve heard people have conversations in here. There’s nobody else in the building but me. The parking lot is empty when I get here.

Me: Really?? That’s weird. (Again, I said this while laughing a little. This time, I was a little freaked out and thought that by laughing I’d appear calm.)

Woman: Yes. I also get the feeling that someone is watching me when I’m in there. I always look over my shoulder.

Woman: It’s so scary to me, that I’ve gotten my shift switched. I work between 2 schools and I make sure to get to your classroom before it’s dark. No other classrooms make me feel like that. But yours… yours is haunted.

Me: That’s interesting to hear you say that. I’ve heard the automatic toilets flush in our bathroom after school hours, but I thought it was just a faulty toilet.

Woman: I’d keep an eye out for those things.

Me: Ok, well, now that you’ve scared the crap out of me, I have to get going. (By this time I had chills because of this woman’s claims.)

I stepped outside with my co-worker and we talked about what had just happened. The weirdest thing about this whole thing is that I had never seen this woman at school before. I work at school a few hours after the kids leave almost every day to get organized and tidy up. The custodians and I usually see each other during those hours. How had I never seen this woman before?

As I drove to Zumba, all I could think about was talking to our main custodian in the morning. I pictured myself approaching her and telling her about what the woman had said to me today. What if she says, “There’s no other custodians. I don’t know who you are talking about.” Maybe the woman who talked to me was a ghost! I pictured my kids coming up to me tomorrow saying, “Sally won’t give me my book back.” I’d reply with, “There’s no Sally in our class.” The kids would say, “Yes there is. She’s in the corner.” Another ghost!

Ahhhh! Now I’m terrified of my classroom! Have you had an encounter with a ghost? How did you deal with it?